Home for the Holidays

I am now home for the holidays. The last few weeks of school were absolutely nuts and I am glad they are now over. Two weeks ago we had our Spiritual Life Emphasis Week. When I say "our" I am referring to the 2nd year students. For that entire week we read through the chapters of "Desiring God" by John Piper and discussed them. I absolutely enjoyed that book. For those of you who haven't read it I would definitely recommend it. It gives a different perspective on living our Christian lives, and what we should and shouldn't be seeking after. Some things caught me off guard, but it made me think about what he was saying. Oh, and that picture is from that week. We got to go out for breakfast with Dan. I really enjoyed it.

The Christmas banquet was fun. It's a lot of fun to get dressed up. I ended up not singing with Christian. He had to go home that afternoon and we weren't sure if he would be back in time, so we decided not to do it. Matt put together a fun slideshow as well. All in all it turned out well and everyone looked great. Oh, and Luke decided he wanted to come, but because of the slight problem of him being in Ecuador he wasn't able to make it in person. We did enjoy the pleasure of his "presence" though. Cole brought him along with her. Here is a picture of the three of us.

So I am home now for a couple of weeks before it's time to head back to school. I did my Christmas shopping all on Monday, which surprisingly enough didn't take as long as I thought it might. My mom and I did a ton of Christmas baking the other day. It's going to be difficult not to eat too much of it. lol We experimented and tried some new recipes. They turned out great! I'm excited about them. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve day...wow...so hard to believe!!! Time just doesn't go as slow as when I was a kid. I remember being so anxious for Christmas to come! And when it finally did it was the biggest thrill ever. Christmas day would last for forever. Now, before you know it, it's Christmas day. Presents get opened, turkey dinner is enjoyed, then next thing you know it's New Years and back to your normal routine again. I guess that's why it's so important to enjoy the things of life when they come, rather then rushing through them and pushing them aside. They only come once.

So tomorrow night my family was asked to sing a song or two at Northside for their Christmas Eve service. I'm excited to be able to do that. Last Sunday was the Christmas program at my church. I was able to play the bass for most of the musical things we did, as well as sing with Dawn, and then with my cousin Ben. The Sunday School did a skit, called "The Whipping Boy," which turned out well. I enjoyed it. Basically, since I arrived home on Saturday, I've been non-stop busy. But I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

It'll be good to go back to res again in January. Right now poor Andrew is there basically by himself, well, aside from Josh and Lori. I'm sure the peace and quiet is nice, but pretty soon it'll be a zoo there again. lol Something to look forward to. ;) Well, I'm off to go practice a song for tomorrow. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! Enjoy your time at home, and remember the Reason for the season. :) "God bless us, everyone!"

I would like to inform everyone that our volleyball team for intramurals won a game on Tuesday! Three of us on the team were on the same hockey team earlier and we didn't win a single game, so we're quite pleased with our somewhat victory on Tuesday! Looks like we might have a chance this time. :D

This week has been busy. It's so hard to believe that there are only three weeks of school left this semester. I've got quite a bit to get done in the next few weeks. I have a lot of reading to do this weekend for Leadership, which starts on Monday.

Dennis asked a few of us, being Courtney, Jay, Christian, and I, to be a part of a worship team for Westmount on Sunday morning. We had a quick practice yesterday to figure out the songs we're going to do. It actually came together pretty good...though anything with Jay playing the guitar sounds pretty good.

Tonight is our first drama performance! We had three hours of practice this week. We've got a pretty good handle on our skits now, though they could still use some refining. I think as we go along we're going to try and add in a few new ones. I hope tonight goes well, though.

The Christmas banquet is in a week! Time certainly does fly. Christian and I were asked to sing a song for it. I'm still not 100% sure what we're going to sing. There was a Christmas song in Spanish he was going to teach me, but I don't know if we'll have time now. It should be a good night though. I hope we get to go skating afterwards. That's the most fun part of the evening!

That was my quick update of the week. I should be off to get some work done before it's time to do drama stuff. God bless!

Pride does not listen. It knows. - Vanhoozer

A much needed break

Alright, I tried to blog twice this week and both times my computer froze...we'll see if it actually works this time! Here's a fun picture, from intramurals...I'm sad to say that our hockey team lost...we didn't win one game! lol Not too surprising with me in net...and I'm sure the purple hair helped lots too. ;) We're now on to volleyball! Hopefully we'll have a better chance at that.

Right now it's midterm break, aka, hunting break. It's great to be home for a little while and just relax, and try to do some homework. I haven't spent much time at home over the past year and a half, so it's kinda nice. I head back to Peterborough on Sunday night, which I'm excited for, just because I get to see people that I really missed over the break. There's less than a month of classes left too, which is quite insane. Christmas break will be upon us before we know it. This next month will be very busy with assignments and readings. I won't be able to spent much time socializing.

Things at school have been quite busy since Thanksgiving. Student's Council is now up and running, which means we actually have student activities on Thursdays now. I made the difficult decision not to run for it this year, but a lot of my time will be freed up, so I'm quite happy about it. The drama team is up and running now. We've had a few practices, but our first "performance" is on Friday, so we're going to need two or three practices this week in order to be ready for it. I'm pretty excited, as are the rest of them on the team. Dennis has been working pretty hard trying to get "choir" ready. It's changed this year so it's no longer choir. Matt wants to call it the Performing Arts Group. We'll be doing some dramas with a message in them, and there will be singing, and things like that. I'm excited to see how it turns out!

Martie Salmans took me out for lunch a few weeks ago for my student interview, and it was great! We talked for 2.5 hours. Last weekend she took me out for breakfast and we were out for 1.5 - 2 hours. I really enjoy talking to her, and she's been helping me with some things I've been struggling with. One thing we got talking about was the sovereignty of God and how not many people acknowledge that He is sovereign. It's something I had been thinking of a lot over the past while. All my life I've heard people telling me how God is immutable, He's omnipotent, He's sovereign, so it's one of those things that became second nature to me. It wasn't something I was acknowledging and coming to a realization of on my own.
When you grow up hearing the stories of the Bible, like David and Goliath, Noah's Ark, Abraham and Isaac, Elijah, and all those other stories, that's just what they seem like...stories. In our Major Prophets class we've been going through the book of Jeremiah noting the struggles that he went through in order to reach the Israelites with God's message. As I was thinking about it, the reality that that is the same God we have today just hit me...I mean, sometimes it seems like it was so long ago and it doesn't really affect us, but it does. Our God is immutable, He's never changing. The God of the time of Noah, of the time of David, of the time of Jeremiah, is our God! He is still reigning and is still as sovereign as ever. Today we don't seem to acknowledge Him for who He is. We kinda know He's there, but we like the way we're running our own lives so we don't give Him the worship and praise that He deserves. God has the power over everything, yet He's given us the freedom to make our own decisions. In turn we choose to push Him completely out of our lives, and treat Him as if He has no control over anything. He's the Creator of the entire universe. He created us, and we still choose to ignore Him.
At church today we had a speaker by the name of Ray Luff. He gave us some interesting information about the Hump Back Whale. http://bibledoor.blogspot.com/2004/08/song-of-whale.html That link has the whole story, but it basically shows how God's creation gives Him praise even though we often don't recognize it as that. It's sad that we have such a difficult time worshipping God, when a whale is able to!
That's been something that's come to my attention a lot lately. Perhaps it just sounded like a bunch of rambling, but I needed to say it. I'm so thankful God brought me back to KLBC this year. I need it so much even though it can be difficult and I hate doing homework! :P I've been learning a lot and I'm hoping to use this opportunity to strengthen my relationship with Christ Jesus!

Well, it's come to my attention just how much homework I have to do this week, so I must be off. It may be quite a while before I post on here again, but we'll see how things turn out! God bless you all! I love you lots and hope all is going well. Remember to remain in Christ...He is the vine, we are the branches. Without Him we can do nothing!

Life continues on

It has been a very busy week. Last weekend was busy. We had two large Thanksgiving dinners, as well as a birthday dinner. That's a lot of food. :S The pie was great though! I love pumpkin pie. I also made a new friend. His name is Larry (thanks Courtney.) Here's a picture of us, and my pie.


I brought Larry to school with me. Aside from being kidnapped one night, he seems to really be enjoying himself. I'll have to have a chat with Courtney and tell him that Larry doesn't like being kidnapped, or beheaded for that matter. I think it must hurt him to regrow his head.


I've been enjoying second year so far, though as hard as I tried at the beginning of the year, I've managed to slack again. Of course that would happen. I'm getting frustrated with myself. This weekend will be dedicated to homework. I have a lot of things due this week, so if I end up slacking more, then it's going to ruin me for then next few weeks.
My favourite course is still Major Prophets. I really enjoy how Dan teaches. I'm hoping he'll give in and teach us a class next semester. I've been learning a lot from that class, and from IIBS as well. IIBS has been so beneficial in many ways. It's been showing me a ton about Bible study and the steps to take for it. It can be very time consuming but it's definitely worth it.

My own personal devos have not been happening much at all lately. That's probably part of the reason I've been getting so frustrated with myself. There seems to always be something to do instead. I try and get as much sleep as I can in the mornings, and then the day just gets so busy I don't do them. I need to get on top of that. As difficult as I know it's going to be.

I really like the group here at KLBC this year. We've all been having a lot of fun together [probably too much fun and not enough work :)]. We now officially have two couples together. David and Angel started dating a couple of weeks into school and now Trevor and Sarah are dating. :) I'm quite happy for them. Sarah is hopefully moving into res. within the next few weeks. That will be a lot of fun. I like her, and it will be great having her around.

My parents 22nd anniversary is tomorrow! So happy anniversary you two. :) I hope you have a great day.

It is now time to do some homework. I hope everyone is doing well. If you ever have any prayer requests just let me know. :) I love you all very much!! God bless.

"O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life." - St. Francis of Assisi
(Thanks for that, Colin)

Driving Test

Oh...I forgot to mention that I did my G driving test yesterday and I passed! It's good to have it over with. :) No more driving tests until I'm old...like 80 or something.

Camping, Thanksgiving, Birthdays...

I got to see Crystal Rudy this past weekend! I was so excited! She came up on Saturday morning with her nice Oldsmobile Alero packed full of food and camping gear and we went on a small road trip to find a place to go camping. We looked on the map and saw a place called Petroglyph's Provincial Park so we decided to go that direction. We made it without getting lost, but because they're a provincial park they don't have camping there. So we went in and talked to the guy at the gate. He directed us to a campground across the road, and very kindly explained to us what a petroglyph was, because we had no idea. Basically it's a carving in stone, done by the Aboriginals and the different pictures mean different things. We ended up going to look at them and they are kinda cool. Apparently it's still a spiritual site for them.
So, back to our camping trip. We chose our site, and after a great lunch we set everything up. Our camping trip mostly consisted of cooking food over the fire, and then eating. It was great! Though by the time we left, we were sooo full. She brought sooo much stuff to eat. All of our meals turned out amazingly well! They look good, eh? :D


This is our first supper...


Our eggs for breaky...


More breaky...


Crystal eating breaky...



Lunch... (mmm...bacon!)


And us "sleeping".

Hope you enjoy those...they're just a little random, but fun! (like really...who takes pics of food?)

This weekend is Thanksgiving! Yay! I get to go home for a few days. Sarah and her parents are coming through Ptbo. and are bringing me back with them. I get to show her the book that Lucas and I made...hehehe it's pretty exciting. It took me forever to put it together, but she gets to be the first of the comic group to see it. My birthday is on Sunday and I'll be 21. Yay! I'm excited about that. My parents got me a membership to the Wellness Center here in Ptbo. I just went for my orientation today, so tomorrow will be my first real day there. I'm going to do the Hip Hop class. That should be quite enjoyable. On Friday my family is having my birthday party, and then we have two Thanksgiving dinners later on that weekend. It's going to be busy! My sister's birthday is today. She's 16, and Rachel L's is on Thursday, so happy birthday to the both of you!
We've been doing Intramurals on Tuesday nights and it's been fun so far. We're playing hockey for a few weeks and for some reason I've been in net. lol It's a sight to see! I feel bad about letting so many in, but practice will hopefully improve my skill. It's good to be able to get the exercise and to hang out with everyone.
Ok...I think that's all I need to say for now. I hope you all are doing well. I miss everyone from last year. We should have a KLBC reunion sometime! :) God bless dear friends!

Just as I am, though tossed about,
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings within, and foes without,
O Lamb of God, I come!

Back at good ol' KLBC

A ton has happened since I last posted. Camp is now over. I'm quite happy about that. It was a great summer, though very difficult at times. I really enjoyed the group of counsellors that were there. I found the last camp the most difficult because they didn't respect the people in authority over them. I guess by that time I was overtired and less tolerant too. It wasn't just me that noticed it though. It was quite frustrating at times.
I made it to KLBC last tuesday for the evening and got to meet most of the new students. On Wed. evening we went to Graphite and spent a great few days there. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to know everyone. I got a pair of cowboy boots too, from Patti! They were given as skit clothes, but they fit me and I liked them so Patti said I could have them. :D That was pretty exciting. Now all I need is a cowboy hat!
When I got back from camp, and from hanging out at Nicole's house for a while, I caught the Greyhound to TO and then to Barrie. I was downtown TO for 1/2 an hour at night waiting for my bus to transfer to. There weren't too many crazy people there. lol We had a church picnic on Saturday, that I didn't really enjoy very much, then on Sunday my family packed up and went to Haliburton for a bit of a vacation. It was definitely much needed. We went to a resort called the Wigamog Inn, on Kashagawigamog Lake. The pools, hottubs, and the sauna definitely got their share of usage. Tennis was a lot of fun, though we weren't very good at it. SuperDave was definitely the better of all of us. I guess that's why they call him that. :) There was this tower in Dorset that we climbed up too. Man, that was hard on the legs. I mean, it really showed me how bad of shape I'm in. My legs felt like jelly for quite some time after that. The food was delicious too. I realized how uncultured I am...and my siblings too. Meals were quite interesting, to say the least. Especially with Melanie and Dawn there.
I just got back this afternoon, and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to handle the work load this year. I don't want to get behind, like I did last year. I don't think I could handle it again. Originally I was planning on running for 2nd year rep, but now I'm not so sure if I should. With drama and choir that will probably take up a lot of my extra time. I don't like making decisions. :S It's not fun. It's something I need to really pray about.
Well, I've got room check tomorrow, and bunch of other things to do so I should go. Hopefully I'll be able to post again soon.
I love you all!

My puppy is gone...

Today has been a weird day. It was our last day of day camps, so it was sad, but exciting at the same time because overnight camps start on Sunday. It's my dad's birthday today too! Happy Birthday Dad! :D I love you! I'm sorry it's kind of a sad day too.

I was talking to Dawn, my sister, yesterday and she told me that Nitro, my Rottweiler, was sick and my mom took him to the vet. She doesn't take our animals to the vet's unless they really need it, so I knew it must be kinda serious. After some x-rays they said it looked like a blockage of some sort, so they planned on doing an operation today. It was going to cost a lot. Well, I got a phone call from Dawn again tonight, and apparently during the operation they discovered it wasn't a blockage, it was cancer. He had tumors all over the inside of him, and it didn't look good. So, they put him down. It's really sad because he was my puppy (well, a 6.5 year old, big puppy). It's hard to believe that he won't be there next time I go home. I've been crying a lot, which I don't do very often. It was for the best though...it's better than him being in a ton of pain for the next few weeks. They said he wouldn't have lasted very long. It's weird, because that's the same way Majesta died (that's Nitro's mom...she died a year and a half ago). Oh well...it's easier on everyone not having to worry about taking care of him now....I'm just really sad.

I need to get offline, but I would appreciate all of your prayers as we have a ton of programming to get done this weekend for Sunday and we don't know how all of our games are going to turn out this week. I miss you all.

My puppy is gone...

Today has been a weird day. It was our last day of day camps, so it was sad, but exciting at the same time because overnight camps start on Sunday. It's my dad's birthday today too! Happy Birthday Dad! :D I love you! I'm sorry it's kind of a sad day too.

I was talking to Dawn, my sister, yesterday and she told me that Nitro, my Rottweiler, was sick and my mom took him to the vet. She doesn't take our animals to the vet's unless they really need it, so I knew it must be kinda serious. After some x-rays they said it looked like a blockage of some sort, so they planned on doing an operation today. It was going to cost a lot. Well, I got a phone call from Dawn again tonight, and apparently during the operation they discovered it wasn't a blockage, it was cancer. He had tumors all over the inside of him, and it didn't look good. So, they put him down. It's really sad because he was my puppy (well, a 6.5 year old, big puppy). It's hard to believe that he won't be there next time I go home. I've been crying a lot, which I don't do very often. It was for the best though...it's better than him being in a ton of pain for the next few weeks. They said he wouldn't have lasted very long. It's weird, because that's the same way Majesta died (that's Nitro's mom...she died a year and a half ago). Oh well...it's easier on everyone not having to worry about taking care of him now....I'm just really sad.

I need to get offline, but I would appreciate all of your prayers as we have a ton of programming to get done this weekend for Sunday and we don't know how all of our games are going to turn out this week. I miss you all.

It's been a great summer so far. God has really been working through us to reach the campers. It's sad to see them go, especially when they have so many questions about things. We're using the Quest program which breaks us up into smaller discussion groups so for each camp I'm able to get to know my group quite well. I was able to have some good talks with a few of the girls, so I know that a lot of them are searching, but they're scared or just unsure of things. They don't like the rules and with so many other beliefs out there they just aren't sure which one is true, if any. Some of them feel that they can believe what they want and God won't condemn them for it. It's so hard to show them the truth...only the Holy Spirit is able to make it clear to them. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated for this ministy. These campers are all coming for free from different home lives. So many of them don't feel loved, so we're trying to show them that we care and more importantly that God loves them and cares about them.
We have one day camp left, starting on Monday, and then overnight camps start. I'm excited about them, but they will be very wearing. Mike and I have a ton of programming to get done within the next few weeks. Our theme is going to be "The Amazing Race" so we're hoping to base the activities and such on the show. It could turn out very well if we spend enough time on it.
I'm only home for the weekend. Actually, I'm heading back up to camp in a few hours. It's been a busy weekend. I went shopping yesterday and got an outfit to wear to Dawn's wedding. It's only in a week!!! Crazy, eh? I'm super excited for her. 6 more sleeps :)
My sister, Dawn, broke her wrist yesterday. She got tossed around pretty good by one of the horses at the farm where she works. So she gets to wear a cast for a few weeks. I get to be the first one to sign it because I'm leaving soon. :D
Only five more weeks until school starts! I've been at Graphite for 7 weeks already. It's almost hard to believe. I continue to pray for everyone and I hope that you are all enjoying your summer! I love you all and miss you a lot! God Bless :)

Camp has begun

I've been at Graphite for four weeks now. The first three kept me busy getting things ready for camp and helping Boyd do a bunch of maintenance type stuff. I was the only one staying at camp, until last weekend. The counsellors all came last Saturday, and camp life has been crazy ever since. :) This past week was the first week of camp. The first day camp is usually a lot busier just because it takes extra work to get the program all in order. Almost every evening we've had something that needed to get done. Shannon came and helped us last week, but she has a job starting tomorrow, so she isn't able to be at camp anymore. We really benefited from her being there, but we'll survive without her. It will just make things a little crazier.
I'm being stretched this summer at camp working with the teens. It's a huge change from working with the younger ones. It's so much harder to gain their trust, and even to answer all the questions they have. We're using the 'Quest' video series with them, and so far they seem to be quite interested. (most of them anyhow) I'm sure as the summer goes on I'll find it easier to be working with them and to talk to them.
Oh, Mike has decided that he's coming to help program for overnights! Whew! Huge relief right there. He's usually got some pretty creative ideas, and he's done it before so it should go well. It's good to know that I don't have to do it on my own now. :P

I'm home right now, for my mom's birthday. I came back for the weekend and surprised her. On Saturday afternoon we took her on the 'Serendipity Princess', a little cruise boat that goes around Kempenfelt Bay. It was nice to have us all there together. Last night we had a little birthday party for her. It was fun. :) I'm leaving shortly to head back to camp. I'm not sure when I'll be coming home next. Probably not for quite a while. :S It's pretty crazy, but it's exciting to be at camp with everyone. It's quite encouraging to see the way the counsellors want to serve God and lead the campers to Christ.

I'm not sure if much else is new. I was able to talk to Luke for a little while last night. He leaves for Ecuador on the 19th, so I'm sure he would greatly appreciate it if you kept him in your prayers. For those of you who know Charles, he's heading out to China soon for a chunk of the summer, and Courtney and Tyler are going to Zambia in August, so keep them all in mind and in your prayers.

I love you all very much and I miss you! God bless and I hope all is well with you.

Hebrews 9:27-28 - Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Scotia machines and 4-wheelers

I'm having a pretty good time here at Graphite. It's pretty quiet, especially in the evenings, but it's nice. I've been swimming a few times though the continuous rain has prevented me from entering the water very much. Uncle Boyd is keeping me busy around here. These next two weeks before camp starts will be really busy.

I have a bit of a prayer request. I'm supposed to be programming the overnight camps in August, there are three of them, and we're not sure if the person who was originally going to program with me is actually coming back. There's a lot of work that needs done to get those weeks all planned, and I won't be able to do it on my own. Please pray that God will provide someone soon to help in that area. It will be a stress relief for all of us.

Yesterday Andrew came for a visit and we went to town. It was pretty fun, but those silly Scotia bank machines can be a pain. First, the silly thing tried to eat my card...well not eat it really, I tried to push it back in and it didn't like it so it got jammed just far enough in that I couldn't pull it back out. I was beginning to worry, but then the machine decided that it didn't taste very good and it spit it out. Whew...that was a relief. I was then trying to update my pass book, which I hadn't updated since February, and after filling another page of it, I flipped to the next one and tried to insert it into the machine and it grabbed it, then spit it back out at me!! Goodness, what's this world coming to?! Bank Machines with minds of their own. So I've decided that they don't like me very much, or maybe I just need to learn how to use them properly. :P

Oh! I got to see Sarah "P." Lawrence when we were in town! I was super excited about that!! I hadn't seen her in ages and she happened to be working when we went into I.D.A. We chatted for quite a while, and I may get to see her a little bit this summer. :) She informed me that Tyler is going to Zambia with Courtney for the month of August. If you could remember to pray for them then I'm sure they would greatly appreciate it.

After church today Nicole W. had me over for lunch. It was a lot of fun. I like her family. Afterwards they gave me some grubby clothes to wear and we did some 4-wheeling! It was great fun! We took the trails back to the camp and picked up the camp 4-wheeler. So Nicole, Kara, and I all had one. :) They're a lot of fun to use in the sand pit. I hit a pretty sweet jump and got some nice air. :P Kara is absolutely insane! lol It was a lot of fun watching her. I came back quite dirty from all the dust and mud we went through, and I probably ate a few bugs too. One went up my nose. :P It was gross...and we saw a snake. He was kinda gross too. lol

Alright, I'm off to do some colouring and letter writing. I hope you all are doing well and that you're keeping God as your #1 focus this summer. I pray that He'll use you in great ways as you live out each day for Him. God bless, my friends. I love you all and miss you all very much.

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Working at Graphite

I'm at camp now. I arrived on Saturday afternoon just before a nice thunderstorm. It was a lonely day, but quite enjoyable. No one was around when I got here, so I moved into my room, unpacked then tried to decide what to do. I chose to colour. I'm not too impressed with my new pencil crayons though. A couple of them just kept breaking. I was getting quite frustrated, but I managed to finish my picture with a couple of pencil crayons only half as long as they were when I started. When I finished it, I decided to write a letter. I'm not much of a letter writer, but when there's no one around it makes it so much easier to do. I started reading "The Last Juror" by John Grisham on Saturday night before bed, and I finished it Sunday evening. It was a great book!

Nicole W. rescued me from my lonliness yesterday. She came and picked me up and we went to Timmy's. Her friend Leah was there too. We had a great night. I think we ended up being there for like, 2.5 hours. :P She showed up today with her sister and a friend and we all went for a swim. The lake is soo nice. It's been so humid out that the swim was quite refreshing. Nicole and I will hopefully be able to go 4-wheeling at some point too.

I had fun working with Uncle Boyd today. He has a long list of things that need done. One thing I started working on was the music binders. :S That's one long, tedious job. I started today, but it's going to take a few days to get much done with them. I'm not really sure what all I'm going to be doing in the next few weeks. I washed the sign out front today, and got kinda wet in the process. I think there is some line trimming for me to do as well. Near the end of the month a few groups are coming in and I'm pretty sure I'll be helping lead some games and activities with them.

I love it here at Graphite. Though I will say that it's tough to compare to Malagash. :P I miss everyone so much! I miss you all so much more now that I'm here on my own, with little internet access and such. If you ever feel like visiting then please do! Visitors are a lot of fun and so are letters. :D God bless you all! I hope you all have a great summer!

P.S. Happy birthday Luke!

The awesome power of the storm

Yesterday we had an incredible thunderstorm in this area. It resulted in many trees down, power outages, and floods downtown Barrie, which weren't horribly bad, but they liked making a big deal of it on the news. I was talking to Andrew on msn during the storm and we both came to the same conclusion that storms are so amazing and even though they're so powerful and almost scary at times, they're so calming. I could sit on a porch or at a window and just watch a thunderstorm for hours. It's like confirmation of God's power. He can command these magnificent works of nature, which man has never been able to and will never be able to control. He created them. In one way this should instill a sense of fear in us, knowing that our God controls these things that we are so often afraid of. But in another sense it can be so comforting knowing that our God is omnipotent and all the things that come up against us that we have a difficult time with are just small things for Him. He is an awesome God and we should be so extremely thankful for the love He shows us from day to day. He cares about everything we're going through and He wants to help us through it all. I can understand why David said, "Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name." (Psalm 103:1) We should be praising God with our whole being. We should be giving Him the worship He deserves.

Psalm 65:5-8 - You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.

Psalm 66:3 - Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you."

Psalm 107:28-29 - Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.

I'm beginning to get really frustrated with myself. I was really excited to come home, get into a routine of exercising, eating well, Bible reading, devos, prayer, and just getting things back on track. Well, that hasn't happened yet...none of it actually. I've read my Bible a bit, prayed, and I've gotten some exercise, but it hasn't been anything regular. I haven't had very much of a routine at all since I've been home because I've been all around, everywhere except home. I'm really hoping I'll be able to keep on top of myself while I'm at camp. If I can get myself into a good routine then things should start looking better and I'm sure I'll be feeling better. I've noticed that I haven't had the greatest attitude with my family and I think a lot of it is based on being frustrated with myself so I take it out on them. I really need to work on that...it's strange how personal things effect how we deal with each other. If something is bothering me about myself and I'm kind of upset about it, I tend to be a bit quick-tempered with those around me. I really have a lot of work that needs done in my life and I can't do any of it on my own. I need to get myself out of this hole that I've dug. For some reason that I'm unsure of, I seem to be afraid to discipline myself to do things. Well that needs to change...and it will. I'm determined to put aside my awful habit of procrastination and force myself into a routine this summer that will be life changing! It will require a strength that I don't have on my own, but I can do it with Christ by my side.

I'm heading to camp on Saturday. It's sad, but exciting. I won't be able to talk to people much. Though I will be able to send and check my email! Most of my stuff is packed...I just need to finish cleaning my room. Which reminds me, after going through all of my clothes and packing them I realized how much I miss Frenchy's! lol We made three trips there within the week I was in Nova Scotia! So yeah, that was sad. Anyhow, I'm off to bed...oh, and I should say, my dad is great! I haven't gotten to see him much, he's gone to work during the week so he's only home on weekends. God bless.

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Not home for long

When I last posted I was about to head up to Malagash Bible Camp with Luke. It was a beautiful drive up there! The man who drove us up did a great job of pointing out all of the interesting touristy stuff. He was a lot of fun! Actually, on the way up we stopped at this cave by the side of the road so I could see it, and when we walked over to it there was a woman, squatting down on the rocks peeing! I can't even imagine how embarrased she must have been! We just turned away from her (well the kids with us didn't...they just ran right by her lol) and she got out of there pretty quickly! lol It was quite hilarious. I was really excited when we got to Malagash and I got to see the ocean, even though it was rainy. It's a beautiful place. I can see why it's so highly spoken of. It was a fun weekend. I worked in the kitchen with some great people and got to meet some of the kids too. Meghan, one of Luke's friends, was working in the kitchen with me and she showed me how to look for sea glass. I found some great pieces: some white ones, a little brown one, a few good sized green ones, and a big blue piece (it's my favourite.) It was sad to leave there.
On Monday we went downtown Halifax and toured around. I met his sister Leah and saw all the boats, including Theodore Tugboat!!! On Tuesday the sun finally came out and we went to Peggy's Cove and on Wednesday we went to Crystal Crescent beaches. The ocean was absolutely beautful and the rocks all along the shoreline were amazing to see. The people out there are so much friendlier than Ontarionians (what is the proper word?? I think I made this one up). I don't know why we can't be nicer. Anyhow, time flew by and I caught my flight home early Thursday morning. I love flying! It's so much fun!

After waiting at the airport for a half hour, my mom picked me up and we went to the Vaughan Mills Center. It's an absolutely huge mall! I was with my mom and my sister and we were there for probably 7 hours. Talk about an extremely long day. :S It was nice when we finally got home, except that I had a bunch of arranging to do so I could go to Peterborough for the weekend.
The frisbee tournament turned out quite well. It was a smaller group than usual, but it was a lot easier to do things because of it. Once again Ross did a great job getting everything organized and everyone who helped as well. Things seemed to go very smoothly and everyone enjoyed themselves. The weekend was really busy, some good and some crazy, but it was great to get to see some people again. Sarah, Nicole, and I got to spend two nights in res together. We hung out with Matty, Drew, Todd, and DanDan on Friday night which was super fun! I love those guys. :) Saba and I enjoyed blasting our music. The looks you get from people when blaring Mmmbop by Hanson are priceless! On Saturday night Kevin showed up and a group of us went to Timmy's.
After the church service at Auburn today my youth group and I stayed for the luncheon they had then headed back home. It was such a busy weekend and I'm so drained. Actually I'm probably going to go to bed now because I didn't get much sleep this weekend. Chuckleton and I stayed up til 2 or 3 talking both nights, then the girls and I stayed up in our room even later than that.

I'm off to camp probably sometime this week. I'm not 100% when. It'll be nice to just be there and not have to worry about needing to be somewhere else for a little while. It's no fun living out of a suitcase. I've probably only been home for about 7 days since school finished. I'll enjoy spending a few more days at home before I head up to Bancroft.
It'll be an interesting summer. I'm still not sure who exactly I'll be working with. I would value your prayers though. There are some people that are a bit difficult to work with, and I'm praying for the patience and understanding that I'll need to be able to work well with them. I'm also kind of nervous about working with the Teens for daycamps because I've never done it before and I know it'll be more difficult because of the topics that will come up and their understanding of things. God obviously has me here for a reason, I just pray that I'll be able to help have an impact on the lives of those campers. It's going to be difficult for me health-wise too. I'm hoping that by the end of the summer I'll be decently healthy again, but it'll take a bunch of work.

May is now gone, and June is here. It's only been one month since school has been out and so much has happened already. We'll just have to wait and see how the month of June pans out. God bless all of you...I love you all, and am continuously praying for you.

Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

In beautiful, rainy Halifax

I guess a fair bit has happened since I last posted. I worked at my grandparents for about 2 weeks. Like I said before, my grandpa taught me to drive the tractor and I got to use it to do a bunch of work. :D That was pretty exciting. I had some really good chats with him about almost everything. After coming away from talking with him I realize that I really don't have as much knowledge as I'd like to believe that I have. It takes years to gain knowledge like that, not just a year at Bible College. I got a bunch of fairly interesting history lessons about the area I'm from and great grandparents and other family who lived there. One thing that I didn't realize was that where I was born was named after a dog....John Graves Simcoe's wife's dog. Actually she had three: Tiny, Tay, and Flos. They all had townships named after them...how sad is that??

Ok...after I finished at my grandparents, I went home and did some paper work for my dad. May 24 weekend came pretty quickly and we had a huge family bash at my great uncle's. There was a ton of family there...most of whom I hadn't seen in a year. We spent over $200 on fireworks...it was a pretty good show! That was a super busy weekend. I then spent Monday cleaning and packing, then I went and watched a movie at Jamie's house.

On Tuesday I flew out to Halifax, which is where I am now! It was my first time flying and it was so much fun! Taking off was really cool and I did like flying above the puffy white clouds. Either way, my plane didn't crash and I'm here at Lucas' house enjoying the rain. :) It's been fun! We've mostly stayed in the house because it's wet outside, but we had some Lego fun! We built a dragon castle, a pirate island, and a big ship. We tried building a police station but too many pieces were missing so we gave up. We went to Frenchy's the other day and hopefully we'll get to go again before it's time for me to fly back. Today we're heading out to Malagash Bible Camp to help with the kids club. I'm pretty excited. Luke says it's way better than Graphite....we'll have to see about that. :P I'm not sure what we're doing next week...time will tell. Anyhow...that's about the extent of my journey's thus far. I'm still struggling with my devo's and prayer time. I'm having a hard time keeping on top of it all. It's my own fault, but it's something I'm really trying to work on now and throughout the summer.

I'm going to run for now. I hope you all are doing well! I miss you and I hope to see you soon. Maybe at Milliscus... :) I love you all!

Raspberry time

Things have been really busy since I've been home. I've only been home for about 4 days since school ended. I'll be back home again for the weekend and I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing next week. Right now I'm at my grandparents doing some work. Cutting out dead raspberry canes from the million rows....well, not million, but there are a lot. lol It's a long, slow job, but it's pretty enjoyable. I may end up coming back here next week to help again. We'll probably end up planting some new canes tomorrow. That's a fun job! And my grandpa taught me how to drive the ol' tractor!! lol That was REALLY fun!

I told Joey (my cousin) that we can't have a fire until he gets his room cleaned up, so I should be helping him with that right now. It's a huge mess. :S I'm not sure what else is new really. I got back from school to find out Mel has mono. That's always great. :S

Oh, I'm definitely going to Graphite this summer and to KLBC next year unless financial things change. I found out that I'm not getting as much money for school next year as Boyd and I had hoped, but I talked to my dad and he's willing to cover what I'm not able to get! Praise God! My family is great! God is amazing! I'll be heading out to camp the beginning of June. It will be a pretty full summer.

I really miss being at KLBC, and I miss all of you a lot! I hope that things are going well with you and that God is doing some amazing things in your lives! I try to remember to pray for you all! I'll hopefully post again soon, but I've gotta run for now. God bless. :)

Love and prayers!

Philippians 4:19 - And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Now Just Memories

Wow...I don't know how time flew by so quickly. Or maybe it didn't, but it's still so hard to believe that 8 months of school is over now, even though so much has happened. Good-byes weren't easy, and it's hard to believe that I won't be seeing everyone again in a couple of weeks. It's interesting to look back to the beginning of the year and remember what we thought of each other and how we got along and then compare it to now. Our friendships are so much deeper now, and everyone has grown so much over the time we spent together. It's such an incredible experience to be able to spend a year with a group of Christians and build up friendships. They're always there for you and concerned about how you're doing and what's going on in your life. If you ever need to talk they are so willing to listen to you and pray for you. Just knowing that there is a whole group of them praying for you is such a huge comfort. God used every one of them to help me grow this year. The encouragement I received this year helped me in so many ways. I love all of you and I'm so glad that God brought you into my life. I can't put into words the impact that you have had on my life. I hope that this year will go well for you and that I'll be able to see all of you again. Maybe next year... ;) This year is done now. There are just memories left; memories and great friendships!

I'm glad to be done assignments now, but I've got some big decisions to make over the next few weeks. I have been given the opportunity to be able to work at camp this summer and then go back to KLBC for second year. I'm not really sure what God wants me to do, though I'm leaning more towards Graphite and KLBC now. If I don't go then I'll have to find a job somewhere and I'll just end up working for the year. Our youth group isn't doing as well as we would like, so if I stay home next fall I'll end up taking that over and hopefully turning it into more of an outreach to the community. I know that I can be used at camp, and I'd absolutely love to go, so I just need to keep praying and hopefully I'll be able to make my decision soon.

There are boxes and bags of stuff everywhere!! My room is a huge mess. I brought all of my stuff back from school, and I don't know where I'm going to put it all. I have to totally re-sort my room and I think I'm going to have to pack a bunch of stuff in boxes that I won't need for a little while. I should have done most of that today, but I had a lazy day. I think I'll stay home tomorrow and get my room all cleaned up. On Wednesday I'm heading out to my grandparents raspberry farm to do some work. I think I may spend a couple of weeks there and I'll be able to help my aunt and my grandma with stuff around their houses too. It should be pretty fun, but I won't be home very much. Busy, busy, busy...I guess it's better than having nothing to do!

Ok...I haven't done much, so I should go and clean some more. I miss all of you and I wish the best for you this year. God used you this year at KLBC and if you continue to serve Him, He'll use you in might ways!
Love and prayers for you all.

Less than two weeks to go

Wow...it's pretty crazy when you think that this school year is almost over. Over 7 months have just flown by and now we're left with less than one. It's really sad, but exciting at the same time. It'll be nice to be done with homework, though I've really enjoyed what I've been learning here. Grad is coming very shortly and I've got soo much work to do before then! Right now I think I have about 57 chapters a day to do for Bible reading, plus most of my Soteriology word studies. That'll take a lot of work. So we'll see if I manage to make it through or not. :)

I'm not sure what I'm doing next year. At one point in time, probably about a month ago, I was so sure that I was coming back for second year, but recently plans seemed to have changed (partially because of my mom) and now I have a few different options. My plan at this point is to get a job when I go back home, maybe somehow working with children, and then in the fall I want to head up my youth group back home again and start an outreach into our community. I'm still open to the idea of going to KLBC again, but we'll see where God leads me to. It's difficult not knowing what He holds for us in the future.

God has blessed me soo much this year with awesome friends! I don't think I've ever had such great, sincere friendships as I've had here at KLBC. I'm so sad that after the Graphite retreat and then Grad (which is on the 30th) we'll all part ways and maybe won't be seeing each other for a long time. I'm going to miss seeing everyone every day, being a part of their lives and having them be a part of mine. The love and concern that everyone showed for each other was so great, and I'll miss it terribly. So many things that will be sad to see gone: getting up early after a late night of rez partying, rushing so as not to be late for class, daily hugs from Matty, the boys going through rez trying to get lunch off of anyone who felt generous, wandering to everyone's rooms just to hang out, walks to No Frills, movies and baking parties, night's before choir trips, and so much more! This list could go on and on. For those of you who read this, I just want you to know that I love you all, and I'm so glad that we were able to become friends this year. You're all so great and I really hope that we'll be able to keep in touch and continue to build the friendships that we started here. I've been blessed by being here with you, and I really appreciate you. I'll be praying for you all, and I hope that this summer will be great for you! I'm off to do some more reading now, and then to get some sleep. Love and prayers to all of you...You're super great!! I'll miss you all terribly! Such a sad time...